Re the ideological slant of Salon: (Bolded emphasis is mine)
February 10, 2005
The Founder of Salon Is Passing the Mouse
By DAVID CARR
avid Talbot, a pioneer of online journalism who founded Salon magazine in 1995, will announce today that he is stepping down as the magazine's editor in chief, chief executive and relentless cheerleader. He will be replaced as editor, he said, by Joan Walsh, his longtime deputy.
Salon will also announce its first profitable quarter in its history, Mr. Talbot added, a profit of $400,000 on revenues of $2.2 million. The company also said that Elizabeth Hambrecht, Salon's president, would become its chief executive.
Salon has its headquarters in San Francisco, so the fact that it has had a long, strange trip makes sense. Four years after it began publishing, the Web site announced an era-appropriate initial public offering in June 1999, and saw its stock soar to a high of $15.13 in July of that year.
Salon lived up to some of the journalistic hype, but it has had a tortured business history that includes several cash infusions from investors more interested in Salon's liberal political agenda than in getting a return on their money; on Wednesday, its stock was trading at 14 cents a share. But $50 million later, it is also beginning to show at least some signs of business life, with revenues from a combination of subscribers - 88,000 people who pay an average of $30 a year, the company says - and a share of the growing Internet advertising market. The future of one of the Web's premier brands that was perpetually in danger of ending up in the recycle bin seems assured.
"I think the timing is right," said Mr. Talbot, who will continue as chairman of the company while he works on a book about Robert F. Kennedy. "If the business was shaky, I would feel uncomfortable, but things are now stable and I think I am handing my baby off to two women I have complete trust in."
A former newspaperman at The San Francisco Examiner, Mr. Talbot sensed a significant business opportunity when the Web began to flourish and became one of its chief evangelists. At the time, the Web was seen not only as a utility for consumers, but as a potential giant killer as well. "Dead-tree" journalism would go the way of typewriters, the theory went, and nimble, lippy sources of information like Salon, and its chief competitor, Slate, would become the must-click option for those in search of up-to-the-minute information.
In the beginning, Salon staked a claim on cultural coverage, publishing as much as a book review a day, tart media reporting and a sex column by Courtney Weaver that was followed breathlessly by thousands. At the end of the 1990's, the site began to add political news to its mix, some of which opened eyes at other, significantly larger news organizations. Salon was the first publication to point out why it was that Representative Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, should not have been throwing stones during the Monica Lewinsky affair. It also played a significant role in revealing some of the allegedly anti-competitive practices of Clear Channel, and broke the news that the White House was pressuring broadcasters to insert anti-drug messages into programming. More recently, Salon raised significant and lasting questions about President Bush's National Guard service.
At its peak, Salon had 60 editorial staffers on various beats, with departments as varied as health, business and politics. But as financing began to dwindle after the bust in 2001, the site's ambitions and staff withered. The company now has 55 full-time employees, 22 of whom work on the editorial side.
Salon has never disguised its relentlessly left-leaning political agenda, which gave it a strong identity but sometimes caused readers to wonder whether they were reading a news article or a jeremiad. Ms. Walsh, who became Salon's first fulltime news editor in 1999, makes no apologies for the site's point of view, but said she would work to remind readers of Salon's cultural heritage.
"There is still a need for fearless, independent journalism," Ms. Walsh said. "But we have some of the best book and television coverage there is. I want us to be helpful in figuring where the Democrats go next, but I also want us to be the ones to tell you why 'America's Top Model' is the best show on television."
Ms. Walsh said she would preside over a redesign that emphasizes the broader content of the site, as opposed to just featuring the story of the day. But the political DNA of the site will remain: one big item on her to-do list is "holding the Bush administration accountable."
Historically, political and opinion magazines, print or digital, have been money losers, and Salon has been no exception. After many twists and turns in its business approach, Salon has become something of a hybrid - part NPR and part advertising vehicle. Salon has found a measure of stability by extracting revenues from loyal subscribers and allowing visitors - through a so-called site pass - to read the content if they are willing to sit through an ad first.
"I think that when we went to a subscription model, we lost a lot of casual readers," Ms. Walsh said. "My job is to get people's awareness up and let them know that you can read Salon for free."
Salon claims to have 3.4 million readers who visit the site every month, but it is not the buzz bomb of journalism it was when it was free. Slate, which was sold last year to the Washington Post Company, gave the subscription model a go a few years ago and threw up its hands. Now that advertising dollars are rushing toward the Web, it will be interesting to see whether Salon continues to charge at the door or will fling open the gates in pursuit of big audience numbers to sell to advertisers. Ms. Hambrecht said she and Ms. Walsh were being handed a stable, going concern that needed a bit of work.
"Salon has been a success from a journalistic and artistic point of view," she said. "We have been and will continue to focus on making this a business."
Ad sales have more than doubled in the last year, and revenues were up 69 percent, from $1.3 million in the quarter that ended in December 2003, to $2.2 million in the same quarter this year. And Salon's marginal profit of $400,000 is a marked improvement from last year's loss of $1.2 million. In addition, subscriptions grew over the past year by 16,000. Clearly, Salon - give or take the $50 million to get there - has found some business traction.
And just because he is stepping down as the editor in chief and chief executive, Mr. Talbot is not relinquishing his pompoms.
"I still feel this whole messianic vision," he said. "At its best, Salon is not only progressive and crusading, but also running stories about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. A lot of that joyful spirit has been trashed by recent events, and I think Salon will play a role in reviving it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/books/10salo.html?ei=5065&en=2ebfbc29bec52eeb&ex=1108616400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&position=
